Page 75 of The Huckleberry Bookshop

“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he said, matching her stride.

She turned, eyes ablaze. “Louis is looking to make cuts.”

Mullens stopped as though he’d slammed into something. He’d built his personal financial wealth on the strength of his image. Could it all go terribly wrong on him? Could it not only crash his career, get him kicked off this last-chance team, but also get him punted into the next county by the woman who’d captured his heart?

If there was ever a time to follow his dad’s lead and join the church, it was probably now. Although he didn’t think God would appreciate him coming to him in prayer now that his life was in shambles. Where had he been during the good times? Not in a church.

“You saw the gala clip?” he asked, knowing she had. Her face turned red, and she stopped to face him. “You okay?”

“Well, I’m about to get fired and possibly lose my new cookbook.” With a curt nod she resumed marching toward the exit. “Other than that, I’m just peachy!” She slammed the metal door’s long handle, blasting the heavy door open like it was made of cardboard.

Okay, this was way worse than he’d assumed. This wasn’t just a hammer coming down on him and rippling out to her. She was the one taking the full hit.

He glanced back at the arena, resolving to focus on one problem at a time, to start at the beginning.

“Louis?” he confirmed, falling into step beside her again, the Texas evening sun warm on his skin.

“Yeah. Thanks for standing up for me, by the way.” She unlocked her car and slid into the driver’s seat.

He grabbed the door. “I told him you’re doing your job, that I’m following the plan and that this is all on me.”

“Exactly.” She looked up at him with so much hurt in her eyes that he released the door.

“I’ll fix this. All of it. I promise.”

“Good.” She slammed it shut and left the parking lot with a squeal of tires.

He had to fix…everything. He just had no idea what all that included or where to start.

Chapter 13

Athena dragged herself up the front steps of her parents’ wide front porch, balancing the platter of leftover huckleberry tarts her sister had forgotten to take from the shop. She opened the screen door and it hissed, feeling different. She looked down at its hinges, noticing white hydraulic tubes. She released the door. It stayed open.

She smiled. Meddy had found a contractor.

Athena reached to open the inner door and as she took a step forward she stumbled. She caught the tray of tarts in the nick of time and looked down. A ramp. A short one, but with enough of a slope that the two-inch rise from the porch to the house was no longer a problem for a wheelchair.

She’d have to remind Meddy to tell her what her half cost. Weird that her sister hadn’t mentioned it already. Although maybe she had, and Athena had dropped it from her fully-crammed mind.

She needed to slow down, breathe, lower her stress. Would it be a big deal if she lost her dietician job or the cookbook contract because of Chad’s behavior? Not really. She had the store. And you didn’t need much in the way of pride to run your own business in a small town.

She’d just never date again. Ever.

Noticing the screen door was still open, she pushed on it, releasing its latch, noting that there was an expensive sports car parked out front of the neighbor’s house a few doors down. Why was it that any nice car made her think of Chad? She needed a brain wash. Something that would erase him from her mind.

The door hissed shut, the new hydraulics slowing its movement. Nice. Now, as her mom came and went on her own with her cane or wheelchair, it wouldn’t bang into her.

“Hello?” she called. The fatigue and general glumness that had been following her since she’d snapped at Chad for the gala clip slid away as she took in the familiar living room. She had a lot to be grateful for. From the new ramp that allowed her mother more freedom, to the fact that the store was doing all right, to how her cookbook was a wrap—if it didn’t get canceled despite the rumor that its pre-order numbers were up thanks to Chad’s mini scandal. And tonight she got to enjoy breakfast and games with her family. She was no longer living afar, like she had been last year while in Jersey with Lonnie.

She wasn’t even going to think about Chad tonight.

Not about how much she missed him, or how much it hurt that his professional image was about to destroy her own. Or how the media storm surrounding him and her cookbook had suddenly calmed. It was like she was in the eye of the hurricane, fearing the next round was just about to hit.

She’d literally been locking herself in her arena office, knowing she had to avoid Chad. If she didn’t, her stupid seahorse ovaries might decide to wave off their very real relationship problems and forgive him. There was just too much in need of fixing. She’d kidded herself into believing it would all be okay, ignoring the red flags that surrounded getting involved with him.

And she definitely wasn’t going to think about how much she wished they’d found a way to make a relationship work for them. Or how much she longed for another one of those hot kisses that made her feel so wanted and needed. Understood.

She hadn’t heard from him since she’d ghosted his first two text messages shortly after she’d marched out of the arena over a week and a half ago, high on her anger and the fear of losing her job and book contract.

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